The Orion Team. discussion

I’ve got a new book coming out that I think would interest the group called The Canonical Order. Other people who have read parts have said it's like Mitch Rapp meets the Da Vinci Code.

I'm looking for feedback and reviews from individuals who are well-read in the genre. Here's the brief summary:

When a sniper’s bullet leaves the Pope incapacitated, ex-CIA and Vatican intelligence operative Chad Stryker launches a one-man counteroffensive against radical Islamic terrorists bent on fulfilling an ancient Islamic prophesy to draw the West into an apocalyptic holy war. Stryker uses all of the resources of the Canonical Order, a secret Catholic Church intelligence organization with roots in the paramilitary Knights of Malta and the intelligence networks of the Jesuits, to stop a radical Islamic conspiracy that would destroy the Catholic Church and establish a new world order. In his mission to disrupt the larger apocalyptic plot, Stryker struggles to uncover and stay one step ahead of a mole at the Canonical Order, while searching for the elusive Islamic State mastermind behind the conspiracy, an Islamic State leader known as “Che”.

If you are interested, then I will send you a free copy of the book in return for a candid review. If so, let me know which format you’d prefer.

Please post if you're interested and I'll mail you direct, or hit me up via the message service.

Many thanks for the consideration.

Best,

T.R.

The plot sounds intriguing! I would be interested in reviewing it but I’ve 3 questions, first.

1. How long is the book?

2. Does it have supernatural elements?

3. How is the Catholic Church portrayed in the novel?

Bodo,

Thanks for reaching out.

Page count: On .pdf it is 318 pages in a standard 6" x 9" (I have this in ePub version for fast delivery via email or upload to your Kindle).

2. Supernatural - There are no supernatural elements-- the book is heavy on covert action, paramilitary operations, and human intelligence gathering.

3. Catholic Church portrayal: I'm not sure how to best describe, so I pulled an excerpt that describes the organization and its roots:

-----
“The Order’s history reaches all the way back to Saint Peter, the
first Pope of the Catholic Church. Peter recognized that
Catholicism would constantly be prosecuted and that its
survival would depend on intelligence to provide security, so he
turned to the second-oldest profession to provide protection.
The formal intelligence structure was solidified under the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which you might know as
Knights of Malta or Order of Malta, which had its formal
inception around 1099 A.D. You may also remember it by its
original name ‘Fraternitas Hospitalaria,’ which is the medieval
order of Saint John of Jerusalem, later known as the Knights
Hospitaller. This group was founded in Jerusalem around the
year 1050 A.D., ostensibly as a hospital to provide care for poor
and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land— think of it as the OSS
before the CIA. The hospital was cover for developing an
intelligence apparatus before the fall of Jerusalem to the
Muslims and in advance of the Crusades. They were the
operatives behind the enemy lines.

“You see, for about four centuries after the death of Muhammad,
the Catholic Church had really ‘taken it on the chin’
from Muslim warfare against the Church. Did you know
Muslims had captured about two-thirds of the old Christian
world by the time the Crusades began? It had come to a critical
point in the Church. Pope Leo IX knew that the Islamic
advance had to be stopped, or it would destroy Christianity. It
wasn’t just about recapturing the Holy Land; it was about
turning the tide. So, in 1099 A.D., with the help of what had
converted into a military brotherhood, the Catholic Church
recaptured Jerusalem.

“Since then, we have had a number of advancements. The
primary one was in 1540 with the formation of the Society of
Jesus, the Jesuits, by Ignatius of Loyola. This was truly when
The Canonical Order was founded and expanded geographically by the integration of select Jesuits. The Knights of Malta had
brought the paramilitary competency and the Jesuits later
brought the human intelligence network. The Jesuits’ founding
charter was directly compatible with the Knights of Malta’s
‘defender of the faith,’ since the Jesuits’ founding document
outlined that it was a society for ‘whoever desires to serve as a
soldier of God.’ Further, members were obligated to accept
assignments anywhere in the world, including under harsh
conditions. They were learned men who spoke the local
language and developed human intelligence networks. They
brought a human intelligence network focus to The Canonical
Order, which had focused mainly on paramilitary and covert
action prior to their integration.

“We have survived a number of wary Popes who believed
the world was a safe place and much less complicated than the
reality around them. We have proved quite useful to those
individuals when reality came crashing down around them.
Outside the Vatican walls, we are only rumored to exist—there
is no official acknowledgement. Some of us live under Vatican
diplomatic cover, while the majority of operators travel the
world as tourists, or conduct legitimate business to support
their official mission. We maintain complete deniability
regarding our operations and operators, but we have never
abandoned an operator in the field. It would be against the
Catholic conscience.”

Stryker chuckled. “My guess is that a number of the things
I did in the CIA would be against the Catholic conscience..."
------

I hope this helps give you an idea of what the book is like and how the Catholic Church and Vatican State are portrayed..

Please let me know if you'd like to review and I'll fire off a copy to your kindle or application of your choice.

My best,

T.R.